


we are groot

by Cid_Raines



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Child!Bucky, Child!Steve, Childhood Friends, Cutesy, Fantasy, Fluff and Humor, I don't know why I wrote this, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winnie-the-Pooh References, this lacks any sort of pacing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 17:15:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18782632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cid_Raines/pseuds/Cid_Raines
Summary: “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.”***When playing in the woods, Steve and Bucky stumble upon a beautiful, magical secret.





	we are groot

**Author's Note:**

> there is no pacing in this this is so bad im posting it for the hell of it

When the sun comes out after days of persistent rainfall, Sarah Rogers predicts that she has around half an hour until the knocking comes.

  
  
She's wrong. In the ten minutes it takes her to lay breakfast on the table, a sharp rapping on the door sounds throughout the hallway, and she can already hear eager footsteps racing down the stairs.

  
  
"Buck!"

  
  
Sarah smiles as she hears Bucky's most enthusiastic greeting of, "Stevie!"

  
  
And then she sighs. The boys are so drunk with joy at the sight of sunlight that it will take some persuading to get them to eat some toast before they set out to cause chaos and have fun. Surely enough, Steve rushes into the kitchen to bid his mother farewell for the morning before he's even put on his socks.

  
  
"Boys!" she says exasperatedly. "It's nine o'clock,  you need some food in your tummies to give you energy!"

  
  
Small and energetic Bucky Barnes, with his gap-toothed smile and powerful ability to charm whoever he lays his eyes upon, offers Sarah a wide grin. "I ate at home, Sarah. I had cornflakes."

  
  
"Cornflakes! How does a strong man like you expect to get energy from cornflakes?" Sarah scolds lightly. "Have some toast and jam, and Steve, I made you your favourite eggs."

  
  
She has already prepared for the eventuality of Bucky turning up, simply because he always does. The boys sigh and sulk when Sarah points threateningly at the food-laden table but eventually sit down, pinching and jostling each other and only half-listening to Sarah's reprimand when Bucky accidentally sticks his hand in a pot of honey.

  
  
"So, are you boys going to the woods?" Sarah asks, once she's poured herself a mug of coffee, keeping it out of Steve's reach because once he drank her coffee and was sick everywhere.

  
  
Steve nods and says, with a mouth full of scrambled egg, "Yep."

  
  
"Mouth closed when eating, Steven," Sarah chides him. "Down to the river again? Your father says he's going to fish there tonight when he's back from work. If you come back in time maybe you can go with him."

  
  
The boys react enthusiastically to the idea of fishing with Grant Rogers. "When's Pa going to be back, Ma?" Steve demands.

  
  
"Later on. You and Bucky can catch lots of fish and we can have a nice dinner. We can ask your ma if you can stay over, can't we, Bucky?"

  
  
Bucky nods and takes a bite of toast to show his approval of the plan. Sarah sits back with her coffee and opens a book while the boys chatter about this and that, probably planning their activities for the day. The summer holidays are ample time for adventures and the return of the sun and warmth after a week of squalls offers endless opportunities for the world to be seized to the average seven year old.

  
  
"Finished!" Steve declares, around fifteen minutes later. "We've eaten, Ma, can we go now?"

  
  
He shows Sarah his clean plate and Bucky follows suit. Sarah makes a show of making sure they've actually eaten enough and then she nods. “Okay, you cheeky boys. Steve, make sure you put your socks on before you go! Have fun, and be back for lunch, okay?”

 

She isn't actually sure if they listened to what she said, but smiles anyway as the two practically knock their chairs over in a bid to scramble over to her and give her a hug. Not before Steve picks up their plates and carries them to the sink for her benefit.

 

 _Such a polite little devil,_ she thinks with a fond smile. _I can see his father in him._

 

“Bye!” two voices yell in unison, and she waits for the door to slam before she starts to chuckle, returning to her book and her coffee.

 

***

 

“What are we doing today, Buck?” Steve asks breathlessly, as they charge down the village road, waving to those who know the terrible twosome well. _Silly boys,_ they think, smiling to themselves. “At the river?”

 

Bucky draws to a halt outside the entrance to the woods to catch his breath. Endless energy or not, he's still a small boy with short legs. “We can go swimming!”

 

Bucky’s idea of swimming involves wading knee high into the current and splashing Steve, because neither of them are entirely coordinated enough to manage proper swimming yet. But Steve jumps at the idea, because he loves playing in the river and it's a hot day, so maybe the cool and sweet water will offer him some relief from the burning sun. The thought propels him forward and ahead of Bucky, who scrambles to catch up.

 

To Steve and Bucky, the woods are a sanctuary, a place reserved for them and only them, save for the few guests they occasionally invite along, such as Steve and Bucky’s ma and pa, the old fisherman Lorenzo and occasionally older boy Howard. The woods are the place where they shape memories with their grubby hands and discover everything possible each and every day. To them, there is no place more important.

 

Thick foliage where rays of light dance across the ground surrounds them as they track across the bed of pine needles leading towards their beloved river. Cicadas buzz, birds hop from branch to branch and leaves sway in the breeze. The woods stretch on for miles, and there's no way they've explored every inch of them yet. They've found several things here already, though. They've found rabbits, and squirrels, and once they met a deer that blinked at them peacefully and let them feed it chestnuts.

 

They cross the clearing towards the oak tree that has become a landmark to them. It’s a grand old tree with a large hollow where they used to curl up together eating sweets, before they became a little too big for it. Close by the trees they start to hear flowing water, and they begin to skip towards the source of the sound until they reach the river.

 

The water sparkles in the sunlight and water lilies are everywhere. Steve’s pa sets up his rod a little further down when he fishes, where it's deeper, because there are few fish where it’s shallow, just curious ducks. The boys stop at the river bank, where the ground is soft and cool, and remove their shoes and socks. The river runs further into the woods and they've never managed to follow it out of here. One day, though, they will.

 

Steve grins at Bucky as the boy pulls up his shorts as high as they can possibly go. “You look silly.”

 

“ _You're_ silly,” Bucky says indignantly. He points towards the water. “Race to the water!”

 

“Not fair!” Steve says in outrage, because Bucky is closer to the water _and_ he didn't give a countdown before they could start running. He sprints diligently after him, though, feeling the water cool against his feet and grinning as he kicks up water everywhere, his feet digging into the soft ground beneath him.

 

“Loser,” Bucky taunts him, and Steve goes to attack him and shove him down, but misses as Bucky side steps impressively fast. “Look. There's ducklings.”

 

Steve follows his gaze and his eyes fall upon two tiny ducks accompanying a larger duck, who look largely unbothered by the two invaders of their home and are contentedly swimming about looking for food. Steve makes an awed noise and he grins. He loves ducks.

 

“I wanna swim like a duck one day,” he declares.

 

“Because they’re so _slow?_ ” Bucky suggests with an evil grin, and receives a faceful of water. “I wanna be more like an alligator. My pa told me that they can run really fast and catch up with you even with small legs.”

 

“Really?” Steve says worriedly. “I thought they could only walk!”

 

“Nope. They can speed towards you and catch you just like that.” He claps his hands to demonstrate. But at Steve's deeply concerned expression, he adds, “But, he says to escape an alligator all you have to do is change the way you're running in. Because the alligator can't turn fast enough.”

 

Steve gnaws at his lower lip, gazing into the shallow depths of the river bed they're standing in before deciding to take Bucky’s word for it. “Okay. So I could escape an alligator?”

 

“Yep. Don't worry, Stevie. I’d save you from an alligator. You're my mission, remember?” He pats his friend's shoulder. “I'm always going to save you from anything.”

 

“Til the end of the line,” Steve recites.

 

The boys grin at each other, and then proceed to have a wrestling match, where Bucky almost drowns Steve just after he claims he's going to save him from anything.

 

***

 

Following their water fight and a makeshift swordfight with a pair of branches they find lying on the ground, Steve and Bucky lie down against the river bank, unwilling to admit they are tired. They're just conserving energy for their next mission.

 

So they need to rest for now.

 

Steve draws shapes in the dirt beneath him. A house. A smiley face. Two stick men which he labels _Buck and Steve._ Bucky gathers stones from around him and builds a small tower. This quiet, absorbing work and the early afternoon warmth and sunlight casts a lull over the two boys, soothing their rampant excitement, so they're both quite mellow.

 

“Hey, Steve?” Bucky asks in a quiet voice, looking at his tower of stones. He's uncharacteristically focused.

 

“Buck?” Steve says sleepily. He has given up drawing and is close to a nap when Bucky’s strange tone causes him to become alert.

 

“I wanna stay here forever.” Bucky gestures at the flowing river and the swaying aquatic plants and the various animals that skip about around them. “I wanna live here. But sometimes my ma says we might move away from here.”

 

This is such a shocking revelation that Steve rockets upright. “No way!”

 

Bucky looks upset. “That's what I said. And she just smiled at me and she said, _someday you'll get bored of all this, Jamie._ ”

 

Steve crosses his arms indignantly. “That's not a nice thing to say about our woods. Nobody could ever get bored of this place. I don't ever, ever wanna leave. You know who’s _really_ boring, Buck?”

 

“Who?” Bucky asks curiously.

 

“ _Adults._ ” Steve nods impressively. “All they do is talk about the weather and schools and the shoes they picked up the other day. And if anyone says something fun they go, _no, that can't be true, honey._ So your ma is just being silly.”

 

Bucky agrees. Steve is still so disgruntled at the thought of Bucky moving away from him that he scootches up towards his friend and wraps his arms around him. Bucky looks surprised but returns the hug and they sit there for a few moments in relative silence, the only sounds gracing their ears being the buzzing of bugs and the _whoosh_ of the wind on the river.

 

And then, they hear a strange noise.

 

At first, Steve thinks he's imagined it, but he sees Bucky look up, too. The two make eye contact but shrug. They pull apart and return to lying down.

 

But then they hear the noise again. And it's such a strange noise, a clicking sort of growl, that Steve has to sit up and turn his head to see where it could be coming from.

 

“That's weird,” Steve mumbles. “Do you think it's a _tiger?_ ”

 

“Don't be stupid, there can't be tigers here,” Bucky says, though he doesn’t sound so sure. “I can't see anything, anyway. Maybe it's nothing…”

 

There it is again. A soft growl followed by a small, grating click. Steve and Bucky stare at each other, alarmed, prepared to bolt if need be. They're brave and love finding new things, but _this_ new thing sounds scary.

 

“ _I… am… Groot._ ”

 

“ _Did you hear that?_ ” Steve hisses. “Someone said something! Someone's here!”

 

Bucky nods silently, his eyes wide with excitement. The two of them get to their feet, looking around. They can't _see_ anything, but they know something's here. Steve thinks he sees something moving amongst the trees but when he blinks there's stillness again.

 

“Hello?” Bucky calls in a voice he’s trying to keep brave. “Is someone out there?”

 

“ _I am Groot?_ ”

 

“Hello?” Steve parrots Bucky. The two exchange a look as a faint rustling sound meets their ears. “Hello…?”

 

All of a sudden, Bucky gives a gasp. “ _Stevie!_ ”

 

“ _What?_ ” Steve whispers, because Bucky sounds so awestruck and Steve can't see what there is to be awestruck about. “What do you see, Buck?”

 

In response, Bucky points out his arm. There's a moment of confusion as Steve sees he's pointing at a tree.

 

“A tree? What- _oh!_ ”

 

He claps his hands over his mouth as he sees it. A pair of beetle black eyes and a mouth. Blinking at the two of them curiously. And what he thought had been twigs… _they can't be_ … arms?

 

_As soon as he saw him, he knew a grand adventure was about to happen._

 

“ _I am Groot_ ,” the tree says.

 

Bucky and Steve stare. And stare. Before finally, in a timid sort of voice, Bucky says, “I am Bucky.”

 

“I am Steve,” Steve says solemnly.

 

The tree is the same height as Steve and Bucky. It moves towards them with a mild expression on its wooden face. Steve and Bucky gape open-mouthed but don't back away.

 

“ _I am Groot_.”

 

“Yeah, we know,” Bucky says. “We said our names too.”

 

“ _I am Groot_ ,” the tree, Groot, repeats patiently, as if waiting for them to understand. Steve and Bucky don't. “ _I am Groot, I am Groot, I am Groot._ ”

 

Nonplussed yet fascinated, the boys reach out to touch one of Groot’s spindly arms. “Are you a magical tree?”

 

“ _I am Groot_.”

 

“I am Steve, I am Steve, I am Steve,” Steve says, in an attempt at communication. Groot only sighs and repeats what Steve assumes is his favourite phrase.

 

The two boys look at each other.  This is very confusing.

 

_We know one thing. He is Groot._

 

_But can he play with us?_

 

“Can you play with us?” Steve is the one who asks the question in a serious sort of tone. It's a serious question for their new friend, after all. Groot considers the question, surveying the two boys, and then extends a branch-arm towards them, turning it around so his twig-palm shows.

 

And then, the boys gape as they see a shoot push up between the cracks in his woody palm. The shoot extends and suddenly it opens up into a flower, a small and fresh white daisy. Steve is absolutely gobsmacked when he sees the flower. _It came out of his hand!_

 

“Can I take it?” Bucky asks in a hushed voice.

 

“ _I am Groot._ ” A tone of confirmation to the three words causes Bucky to rightfully assume he has been given permission to take the creation of their tree-friend. With a gentle touch, he plucks the daisy from Groot’s palm. Twirls it between his fingers as if he can't believe it's real. And then he looks at Steve and offers _him_ the opportunity to touch it.

 

Steve takes the flower with trembling fingers, his mouth still hanging open. He tends to do it when he is shocked, so much so that his father had once jokingly said one day a wasp would fly straight down his throat.

 

(He soon regretted making that joke, for the young, overbearingly literal Steve had been paranoid about the presence of wasps for a whole _month_ before he was satisfied he would not be orally ambushed.)

 

He rubs the petals of the flower gently with his thumb before looking at Groot, who is smiling at him.

 

“ _I am Groot,_ ” he offers, and Steve wholeheartedly agrees.

 

Steve and Bucky have found a new friend.

 

***

 

It surprises neither of them that nobody believes their claim that they talked to a tree. Steve is well aware of the fact that adults don't believe in anything, so he doesn't even try to persuade his mother when she helps him bathe, only tries to remain patient as he imagines the fun he is going to have tomorrow. He and Bucky bade each other farewell after dinner yesterday with expressions of utmost excitement rather than their usual glum farewells, knowing that things were going to be _crazy_ for them. _Tomorrow,_ he thinks, as he soaks off the dirt he has accumulated from his playing. _Tomorrow we'll see Groot again._

 

The next day it takes the willpower of someone far beyond their years to patiently eat breakfast and present themselves as capable of running to the woods by themselves. It's a testament to how good they're acting that Sarah doesn't even notice that Steve shoved his toast under the table instead of eating it. They run all the way to the woods without stopping once for breath.

 

 _Maybe he isn't here,_ Steve thinks, when they reach the river. _Maybe this was a one time thing and we'll never see him again._

 

“ _I am Groot_.”

 

Steve is wrong. He’s absolutely delighted when he sees a small tree figure sitting cross-legged by the river, watching their approach. “Bucky! He's here!”

 

“He's here!” Bucky parrots. “C'mon, Steve!”

 

Steve obliges as they splash through the water without thinking of removing their shoes. Groot raises a twig to greet them.

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

“Hi,” they chorus, grinning. “You're really here!”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

“Can you make us another flower?”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ” Groot reaches his arm out and this time a sunflower pokes out of his hand, growing taller than the small daisy. Bucky crows in delight as he is offered the flower and he lifts it up to the sky as if to examine the effect the sun has on it before handing it to Steve.

 

 _Share, Jamie!_ his mother used to say. He has never been good at that. Once he had hit someone with a plastic brick for stealing his favourite aeroplane toy.

 

But it's Stevie. So.

 

“Can you fly?” Steve asks. Flying seems like it would be easy work for the magical flower creator.

 

But Groot shakes his head. “ _I am Groot._ ”

 

“That's too bad,” Bucky says. “You could have used your long arms like one of the _propeller_ things on an aeroplane.”

 

“ _I am Groot_ ,” Groot says forlornly. Such is life.

 

Steve looks at Groot curiously. “Are you really here? Or are you a… a fig- a figment of our imagination?”

 

Groot spread his branches out wide, as if to say, _you tell me._ Steve doesn't know how to interpret this, but he gathers that Groot seems real enough.

 

He is by far the best thing him and Bucky have ever found out here in their woods.

 

***

 

“Can you swim?”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

Groot can swim, but he clearly doesn't enjoy it. Damp wood smells strange, and Groot seems a little grumpy after that experiment.

 

“What's your favourite snack? I like honey and Steve likes cookies.”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

Groot grows a chestnut from one of his fingertips and shows it to the boys before eating it.

 

“I like chestnuts too. We play conkers in autumn,” Steve says brightly. “Okay. Um… What's your favourite animal? I like ducks and Bucky likes alligators.”

 

Groot looks thoughtful for a moment before his branch stretches out to point at a squirrel in a bush that hurries away at the sight of the unidentified, long sharp thing thrust in its direction.

 

“I've got a question,” Bucky says, with a giggle. He can barely contain himself as he says, “What's your favourite type of _tree?_ ”

 

“... _I am Groot._ ”

  


***

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

Bucky struggles to swipe for the apple that dangles precariously out of reach, even with the boost up on Steve’s shoulders. Fortunately, it seems their struggles will soon be over, for there is Groot, making his way over to them. Steve waves at him and almost risks sending Bucky tumbling to the ground with the motion.

 

“Hey, Groot!” he yells excitedly.

 

“We can't reach the apples,” Bucky explains, once he has climbed off of Steve’s shoulders. “Can you get them for us, Groot?”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

Groot’s branches begin to grow, until they reach the dangling apples. Steve and Bucky cheer as he severs the apples from their place on the tree and rush forward to catch them before they can hit the ground.

 

Groot takes a bite out of his own apple. The sight is so strange, a tree eating an apple, that it sends Steve into a fit of giggles that is met by a questioning glance from Bucky.

 

“He's a tree and he's eating an apple,” he explains his mirth to his friend so he doesn't feel left out. “I just thought it was funny.”

 

“Oh.” Bucky looks puzzled for a second, and then he lets out a giggle. “ _Oh!_ That _is_ pretty funny!”

 

“ _I am Groot?_ ” Groot questions the two as they fall about laughing hysterically, Steve's comment about a tree eating an apple being the funniest thing they had ever yet heard.

 

“Don't worry about it, Groot,” Bucky chokes, wiping tears from his eyes. “Don't worry about it.”

 

***

 

Bucky contracts a fever one day and Steve doesn't like it at all. One look at his ma’s harried face, similar to the one _his_ ma makes when she's sad, tells him that Bucky isn't as okay as she says.

 

He's only allowed to see him through a gap in the door and that's only because because he had practically begged on his knees. Bucky’s ma doesn’t want him to catch the same fever. Bucky’s face is sweaty and he looks pained but he manages to grin at Steve when he sees his blue eyes through the crack in the door.

 

“Hi, Stevie!” he croaks. When his ma is busy fussing with him, he mouths, _say hi to Groot for me._

 

Steve nods conspiratorially and when he asks his mother to be set loose into the woods so he can find Bucky a present he sets the task to mind. He finds the river and that's where he sees Groot just as always.

 

“Groot!” he calls. The tree looks pleased to see Steve, he raises a branch in a welcoming gesture and reveals that he has collected a number of berries in his hand.

 

“ _I am Groot?_ ” he questions.

 

“He’s sick today, but he told me to say hi to you,” Steve says diligently, but then he pauses in his tracks, realising he knows exactly what had Groot asked. “Can I have a berry?”

 

“ _I am Groot._ ”

 

“Thanks.” Steve takes one of them from him and popped it into his mouth. It's sweet and juicy and Steve realises Bucky would love them too. He's just trying to think of a way to maybe take some back to him when Groot offers him a solution.

 

He sprouts a wide leaf from his hand, large enough to serve as material for a bundle, and pours a quantity of the berries into it. He then takes the corners of the leaf and folds them up like a parcel.

 

“ _I am Groot_ ,” he says. _Take them to Bucky._

 

“Thanks, buddy!” Steve says excitedly. “This is perfect!”

 

He takes the bundle of berries and tucks it into his pocket.

 

“Hey, Groot?” he asks, as the question occurs to him. Thinking of Bucky has made him… worried.

 

“ _I am Groot?_ ”

 

“Do you think Buck's gonna be okay?” be asks tentatively. Looking into the round black eyes of his friend, whose expression softens. “‘Cause his ma looked worried and he looked really sick…”

 

“ _I am Groot_ ,” Groot says firmly. He grows a daisy from his hand to give to Steve. _Give it to Bucky from me._

 

Steve takes the daisy and tucks it into his pocket with the berries.

 

Bucky will be okay.

 


End file.
